Originally Posted by
NickW
This bit does deserve a separate answer.
I believe the state of Florida (and others) has legislated on the simple basis that it is not in the public interest for people to be in the business of creating their own credit cards at home.
That sort of thing isn't exactly unprecedented. Say you're a legally licensed driver. Is it OK for you to make your own driver's license? Or; say you're a US citizen. Is it OK for you to make your own passport?
I could look it up, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I reckon both of those would be crimes in Florida even without a specific criminal intent.
You're blending issues there, so let's separate them and compare apples to apples.
1: A credit-card is not a government ID card. The latter has a variety of special legal protections, while the former does not.
But with that said, then let me ask you this:
If I run off a black & white copy of my own driver's license on the Xerox machine, with all of my personal information on it being completely accurate and unadulterated, and I then present that paper copy of my own license to a police officer who requests my identification, then am I going to be arrested for possessing a fake ID?
Clearly, the answer is "No". Even though it may not be the actual license card I was issued by the state, it is also not a counterfeit or fake, either.
Surely you have to admit this hypo is very similar, Nick. You aren't changing any of the material information on the credit card, it's simply another copy of the same thing, just in a different color.
2: The issue I've been debating is not the legality of manufacturing the fake Centurion card, it's the legality from the standpoint of the end-user. You say using such a card to access your own account is illegal, and I say it is not.